Musical Wings
by SkySorrow
Summary: Modern gender-bent/ bi-gendered. Hiccup's been lives a double-life. By day, she's the school nerd, the shy girl, the loser, by night, he's the secret performer, the Night Fury, at a most popular local nightclub, Dragon's Edge. Hicstrid
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon or any of the characters mentioned, all rights to their respective owners.**

Modern gender-bent/ bi-gendered. Hiccup's been lives a double-life. By day, she's the school nerd, the shy girl, the loser, by night, he's the secret performer, the Night Fury, at a most popular local nightclub, Dragon's Edge. Hicstrid

Prologue:

Berk is a fairly standard, if slightly smaller than normal town, normal expectations, below average crime-rate, average working people, nothing particularly special about, although it's citizens were still very proud of it. The only thing that's even remotely interesting is the old deep woods backing onto the edge of it, and the old stories about the animals that live it them. Nobody's really sure when they started, some people say they've been going on for hundreds of years, some say just decades, but for as long as anyone can remember, people have been telling stories about the huge, mythical fire-breathing dragons that supposedly roam the forest. The huge area itself is actually nature reserve, has been for nearly half a century. It was pretty much the only thing they could do with it, seeing as the land is practically useless for anything else. They say that someone tried to develop it long ago but the task quickly proved to be impossible. Every time the developers got close or tried to do anything, something akin to a miniature natural disaster would occur, preventing them from touching the thick woodland. The more superstitious people say that it the forest is enchanted, protected by the supposedly 'magical' creatures that live there. These strange occurrences range from temporary forest fires that spring up out of nowhere and miraculously die down instantly the second that the workers retreat form the tall trees, miniature rock falls, temporary floods, random lightning storms that blow in just like that and strike down all of the machinery, even a few of the workers, only to subside a few seconds later when the invading people take cover away from the forests edge, to everything in between. The developers eventually gave up trying and a few years later it was declared a nature reserve. Nobody was technically allowed to go into it, not that anyone could. The heavy foliage surrounding it makes it extremely difficult, almost impossible to get through, especially giving the burly nature of most of the locals.

Another odd quirky of the town, this time found among the younger generations, was the need to give each other strange, and sometimes downright embarrassing nicknames that practically the entire town knew them by. By for them though, that was considered normal. The teenagers of this town were particularly rowdy when stirred up, which was not at all, a very difficult thing to do. One of the most popular hang outs for the kids of the town during after-school hours was a local nightclub, better known as Dragon's Edge, named after the town's myths and run by one of the town most well-liked citizens. Gobber Belch, the town's mechanic, ran the local garage shop alongside the club, which was common knowledge that he'd inherited from a distance uncle who'd died suddenly. Not a particularly musical person and with very little patience for marketing, the old mechanic didn't have a clue what to do with the place and probably would have had to sell it if it weren't for the Night Fury.

The performer was a whirl-wind of talent that had transformed the simple, raised stage into a ten-foot wonderland. The mysterious person took up the mic almost every night and sang and danced until the rest of the teenage population came pouring, as much for the riddle as for the music. The one thing that intrigued the audience about the young performer, beside their obvious talent, was their inexplicable ability to change their gender each time they performed. It baffled the club's customers to no end when the Night Fury came in on some nights dressed in female clothes, singing female songs with the perfect feminine pitch, then abruptly switch and come in the next night dressed as a boy and sing male songs in the same perfect voice without missing or hitting single note out of pitch. This mystery dancer always 'appeared' in a secretive manner, never spoke during songs, and NEVER hung around. Most people believed that the Night Fury was two different people, a boy and girl, maybe even twin siblings who took in turns preforming, while some of the more crude students said that the Night Fury was a hermaphrodite, or cross-dresser. But honestly, nobody really knew the truth. The Night Furry appeared each night wearing a various assemble of similar black clothing, with matching masks to cover his/her face, leaving all of the people wondering. Astrid Hofferson and her loose group of 'friends' were no different.

The spacious outside carpark was filling up fast and the club itself was packed as young students from every corner of town pushed and shoved their way in, each group moving to grab whatever seats they could while all the rest edge as close to the stage as they could. Astrid pushed her way carefully through the crowd, coolly following the other teens that she came in with to their signature table, pushed right up against the front of the stage and slipped into in the empty seat on the right side, next to the other girl for the group. Rachel 'Ruffnut' Thornston lounged lazily, tilting her chair back to rest her feet on the back of her brother Timothy 'Tuffnut' Thornston's chair. Tuffnut himself was deep in conversation with his dark-haired friend, Scott 'Snotlout' Jorgenson about the latest drama that had happened earlier that day at school. In the seat next to them, opposite Astrid, the finale member of the group, Frank 'Fishlegs' Ingerman sat hunched quietly over his drink, watching the other people moving around them.

The stage lights spun in wide circles across the wide platform as the bulky figure of the club owner clambered up awkwardly to stand at its center, pausing to gain the audience's attention before speaking. He cleared his throat, the sound echoing loudly through the microphone, making everybody listening wince briefly. "Al'right, al'right now simmer down, simmer down. I know ya'll excited to hear some tunes, and I won't keep ya for long. I'd just like remind everyone of the rules."

He ticked the number of things off on his fingers as he said them. "No jumping up onto the stage, if our performers want you up there with they, they'll ask ya! No grabbing at our performers, or tackling, I don't want to anyone getting sued for physical harassment under my roof!"

There was a round of giggled from the majority of the audience at this. Encouraged, Gobber continued. "No smashing glasses, or throwing them, along with anything else at the stage OR at the performers. And finally, last of all, ladies and gents, lease just enjoy the show."

He grinned toothily, stepping back as the audience cheered excitedly. "And now I give you…..THE. NIGHT. FURRY!"

The entire crowd surrounding the teen's tables erupted into ear-splitting screams and shouts as the large man immediately lumbered back off of stage as the lights went dark, and a lithe figure darted out onto the stage, lit up by the rainbow colored spotlights that flashed in an over various point of the stage in a manner that would send an epileptic into a frenzy. Astrid had to clamp her hands over her ears to block out the racket made by the people jumping and waving frantically around her, her companions, with the expectation of Fishlegs, making no attempt to do the same, the twins even jumping up to join them. The lights continued to flash for another moment before blacking out completely for approximately two seconds, only to switch back on a deep red focused still on the dark figure of the Night Furry, where (she, this time) crouched on stage, hands held above her head in a claw-like grip, the eared hood of her signature hoodie pulled up over her head, a bejewelled black mask covering her face above a matching scarf. The lights began changing again, turned into a playful magenta, making the glittery wings and swirls on her leggings, skirt and converse come to life, before morphing into jazzy purple, and then into a blinding green and the singer scooped up the mic that had been left on the stage by the clubs owner as the speakers came to life behind her, blaring a familiar beat across the room.

Everybody else in the room who had not been standing already sprang to their feet and launched themselves into the air, fist first, heads banging like mad, the front table among them. Astrid got to her own feet warily, already being buffeted by the excited crowd, feeling strangely eager herself, something she hadn't expected to feel when getting dragged out the her companions earlier that day. Night Furry raced back and forth across the stage, riling up the crowd before throwing herself forwards to crouch on one knee at the front on the stage, only a couple of feet away from Astrid as she started to sing.

" _He was a boy, she was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? He was a punk she did ballet. What more can I say?"_

The signer shook her head slightly, as if she were in a genuine conversation matching the lyrics of the song. Astrid was momentarily stunned by the sudden closeness of the mystery performer, noting absent mindedly that she also rolled her emerald eyes behind her mask as she did so.

" _He wanted her, she'd never tell. But secretly she wanted him as well. All of her friends, stuck up their nose. They had a problem with his baggy clothes."_

She made a gesture of wiping across the nose of her mask with her index finger pointed outwards before she rocked back on hers heels and pole-vaulted to her feet further towards the center of the stage as the song picked up again.

" _He was a skater boy, she said see ya later boy. He wasn't good enough for her! She had a pretty face, but her head was up in space, she needed to come back down to earth!"_

The crowd went ballistic as the Night Furry made a show of almost sinking back down to her knees on the last note, only to pop back to her feet again, starting another lap of the stage and it suddenly hit Astrid where she'd heard it particular song before. It had been playing on the radio all the time a few years back, when she'd been younger.

" _Five years from now, she sits at home. Feeding the baby, she's all alone! She turns on TV, guess who she sees? Skater boy rocking a band to-be!"_

Night Furry preformed an air guitar, many of the people in front of her mimicking the move, almost making Astrid smile.

" _She calls up her friends, they already know, and they've all got tickets to see his shows! She tags log, stands in the crowd, looks up at the man that she turn day-own!"_

The whole audience was bouncing up and down on the spot, the entire room becoming one large combined dance floor, Astrid finding herself swept up in the madness, feeling bizarrely light-head and free for the first time in years. Night Furry raised a hand teasingly to point up, making a swooping motion with her arm downwards before jumping up into a high kick, spinning around with the next chorus.

" _He was a skater boy, she said see ya later boy! He wasn't good enough for her! Now he's a super star, slamming on his guitar! Does your pretty face see what he's worth?"_

The whole club went mental, as everybody rocked out to the music. Astrid found herself eyes closed, open head banging along with the rest of them, barely even aware of her own actions anymore.

" _Sorry girl but you missed out! Well touch luck, that boy's mine now! We are more than just good friends, this is how the story ends! Too bad that you couldn't see, see the man that boy could be! There is more than meets the eye, I see that star that is inside!"_

She opened her eyes just in time to see the Night Furry throw herself down to her knees again, sliding up to the very edge of the stage until her own surprised face was mere inches away from hers. Too stunned to do much of anything else, she simply stared curiously into the other (girl's?) forest green eyes that gleamed brightly and followed her gaze lazily as she quirked her head playfully at her, voice dropping quietly into the last verse of the song.

" _He's just a boy, and I'm just a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? We are in love, haven't you heard? How we rock each other's worlds?"_

The spell was broken as Night Furry suddenly rocked back, raising a fist into the air at the last, sharp, whistle-like note, before shifting her weight, actually rolling backwards to the center of the stage where she sprang back to her feet like a jack-in-the-box.

" _I'm with the skater boy, I said see ya later boy. I'll be back stage after the show. I'll be in a studio, singing a song we wrote, about a girl you used to know!"_

The whole room resumed their previous pace, leaping up and down into the air, following Night Fury's example as she continued the excited jumping, complete with fist shook high above her head, head banging wildly. Astrid just stood there staring, in a sort of dazed confusion.

" _I'm with the skater boy, I said see ya later boy. I'll be back stage after the show. I'll be in a studio, singing a song we wrote, about a girl you used to know!"_

The music finally stuttered to a stop, Night Fury leaping up high into the air one last time, legs tucking themselves under her, before dropping back to her feet again, completing her performance with one last exaggerated air guitar before freezing in that finale pose as the music came to a complete stop, only to be replaced by the crowds deafening cheering. This scene held for a couple of seconds before the lights sudden went black, only to relight a moment later, revealing an empty stage.

Gobber got up from his place at the back of the room and waddled slowly up to the stage, pushing through the ocean of people blocking his way as they broke off into excited, chattering groups. He climbed the stage awkwardly, stopping only to pick up the mic from where it had been left on the floor and tapped the top of it to gain people's attention. All eyes turned to him as he waved a large, hand to signal everybody to shut up and started speaking.

"Al'right, al'right! Shut it! I know you're all very pleased to see our talented friend. As ya'll know, Night Fury only gives one performance per night, so I'm afraid that'll be all ya getting this evening." He ignored the round of disappointed groans coming from the audience although it was plain that to see that nobody was really surprised by this. It was common knowledge that Night Furry never did more than one song routinely each performance.

"So in the meantime, you'll have to enjoy your music from the speakers like everyone else. Please do enjoy the rest of your night and be sure to grab a drink of your way out!" With that, he turned and placed the mic back into its stand and cambered down off stage to return to his place serving behind the bar, pulling out the remote for the jukebox in the corner form his back pocket and hitting the on button in the process. The crowd of heavily packed people began to dissipate, a small few lingering on the dance floor to rock out to the song now playing from the boom-box across the room, most returning to their seats.

Astrid blinked dumbly for a second before visibly snapping out of it, shaking her head as if to clear it. She had been just about to slumped back into her seat and maybe nick a bit of Ruffnuts drink to try and calm her frantically beating heart when she felt the thick, beefy arm draped itself around her shoulders causally and smelt the hot, alcohol-scented breath spray her face, followed by the equally obnoxious voice close to her ear. "Hey babe, what'cha thinking about, is it me? I bet it is, I can just tell by the awed look on your face that you're definitely thinking about me, maybe wondering if I'll come back with you to your place later. Well I assure you, I will definitely- OWWW!"

Snotlout howled in pain and his fingerers were bent backwards, forcing his hand off of Astrid shoulder as she twisted it roughly behind his back. She held it there for a moment, leaning over to his shoulder to speak quietly into his ear. "Touch me again, and I promise you'll end up with your hand in a cast. Got it?"

He nodded quickly, eyes beginning to tear up very slightly from the pain. She released him and shoved him away from her. She ignored his pitiful attempts at smoothing the situation over without losing face in the process and stepped over to Ruffnut, tapping her lightly on the shoulder to get her attention before the lanky blonde could launched into another fight with her brother. "What's up?"

Astrid stepped back to avoid getting her toes smashed by the legs of the chair as the other girl rocked back on it, looking up at her curiously. "I'm tired, I'm gonna head home. I'll see you guys in class tomorrow."

"What!? But it's only like nine-thirty!?" Astrid ignoring the complaints of the other teens, subtly brushing off Snotlout's attempts to 'escort' her to her house and pushed her way out to doorway. She exited the club and made her way over beat-up mountain bike, swinging one leg over lazily after pulling away the chain. A loud quiet thrumming noise caught her attention and she looked up just in time to see a lithe, leather clad figure zoom out of the private parking behind the club past her on a sleek black motor bike, steering hazardously close to the edge of the curb before breaking away to the center off the road and speeding away out of sight.

Astrid stared after it for a moment before catching herself and giving her head a shake, mumbling to herself and she pushed off on her own bike. "Must be more tired than I thought I was."

Without another word, she paused momentarily to double check her helmet and before gripping the handling bars and cycling off down to the road back, eager to get back home and crawl into her own comfortable bed to get some sleep before the next, dreaded school day.

 **The song used in this was Sk8tor Boi by Avril Lavigne. I know I've been bouncing back and forth between a LOT of different projects at the moments as my inspirations kinda been all over the place recently, BUT I can promise that I will finish each and every one of my stories that I start. I know from first hand experience how frustrating it in when you really get into a story only for the author to abandon it or adopt it off to someone else with a completely different writing style and plot-line for it. I can assure everyone right away that I will NEVER do any of that. When I start something I WILL finish it….. Eventually. I'm extremely busy right now so I can't grantee when I'll update and what my average time gap between updates will be, only that they WILL happen at some point. Thanks for your interest, reviews do help me to work faster so tell me what you think. No Flames please, but constructive criticism welcome. SS**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One –**

 **Hiccup's POV**

The sudden sharp clap of hands and rhymic pounding of drums brought me groggily to consciousness, making me roll further into the warmth of my cocoon, burying my face and my moaning my complaints into my pillow. I let it play for a few moments more, the words adding to the music, slowly pulling me further into wakefulness. I rolled back over sluggishly and lay there for a minute listening to the song play itself, one of my feet already tapping against my mattress slightly of its own accord.

" _One, two, three, four, five years by, I don't really know, I know don't really know why. Seven eight, eleven years go by, I don't really know why. I don't really know why. I still, feel the same way I did when I was seventeen. I still, look over my shoulder waiting for the world to change_. _"_ I began to hum along, muttering the words under my breath as I reached out from under my duvet with a trembling hand to rub the gathering sleepy dust out of my eyes.

" _But these are, the good old days! These are, the good old days. These are, the old days and I think I'd like to stay. Oh, I'd like to stay. Oh, I'd like to stay_! _"_ A sharp thud against my bedroom door brought me abruptly back to my sense, and I tried not to cringe at the loud, rough voice that followed it, booming from the other side.

"Harriet! Turn off that awful noise and get up! School bus will be here in ten minutes!" I reluctantly dug out my other arm and fumbled around for the off switch on my phone. With a pained sigh, I braced myself and flung back my covers in one quick motion and forced myself to roll groggily upright, gripping the side of my bed with my hands as my head swam with the too-fast movement. I took a couple of second to get used to it before staggering to my feet and stumbling through my morning routine, pausing only to pull on my some random clothes from the pile scattered across my bedroom floor that passed a quick sniff inspection before scooping up my rucksack and bolting out of the door and down the stairs into the kitchen.

Dad wasted no time with greetings and scowled at me in annoyance as I slipped into the room and made a bee-line for the door, shutting it firmly behind me and scurried down the garden path to the street, coming to stop at the pick-up point just in time as the school bus rounded the corner ahead of me. It pulled up beside me and I climbed on, nodding a silent greeting to the driver before ducking my head to avoid the unwanted gaze of others and dodge the various feet that stuck out form the rows of seats in an attempt to trip me as I headed to my usual spot near the back of the bus. I slumped down into my seat and pulled out my head-phones, praying for the day to be over as fast as possible and trying to ignore the ball of dread building up inside my stomach at the thought of facing the school day ahead.

I guess luck was on my side today. I got off the bus and made it through my lessons without incident. Normally my cousin "Snotlout" and his poses would try to cage me in and stir up trouble if they saw me, but luckily for me, none our class schedules mix on a Friday, meaning as long as I went the long way round to my classes and took care to avoid the busy corridors that most of the kids used to travel down, I was unlikely to cross paths with them today. Small mercies I suppose, although a small part of was disappointed not to catch a glimpse of Astrid, my long-time crush who usually hung out in the same group as my ass-hole cousin. Why, I'll never understand but it was probably the only good thing about having the group around, not that she'd ever look at me anyway. But still, everybody's entitled to their own fantasies even if that's all they'll ever be. Friday's were always my favourite day of the week for both this reason and the fact that it was the last school day of the week. Still, I was relived to get safely back on the bus and driving away from the dreaded school building. My relief was short lived as the vehicle turned the corner onto my street and pulled up at the drop-off point near the bottom of my road. Time to go home. I sighed for what felt like the thousandth time today and got relucntantly to my feet, making my way carefully to the front of the bus and hoped down onto the pavement. I wearily made my way up the road towards my house. It occurred to me as I mused to myself distractedly that most people felt happy towards the end of the day to be heading back home, whereas I felt almost as much dread now as when I was heading too school this morning, treading up the garden path. It turns out my instincts where right once again.

No sooner had I reached the back door, the sound of shouting drifted out to me from within, and I heisted. With yet another deep, bracing sigh I reached out and gripped the handle, pushing the door open and took an unsteady step inside. I shut the door behind me with a cringe as I listened to the earth-shaking voice of my father and peered cautiously around the corner to see him unsurprisingly shouting like a football supporter of a losing team at a stadium into his phone. Carefully, I began to edge my way across the room, willing myself desperately not to be seen. I suppose my luck had to run out sometime.

Stoic spun around and finish his conversation with a partially aggressive insult and snapped his phone shut roughly, before glancing up to spot me, stuck half way between doorways, just another few meters from freedom. His eyes narrowed dangerously and I immediately tried, without success not to shrink in on myself under his intimidating stare. His huge hand buried itself in his pocket as he replaced his phone and an uncomfortable silence ruled for a moment. Then finally, he spoke to me.

"I have to make a business trip out of town so I won't be home for a couple of weeks. I leave tomorrow morning but I'm having dinner with a local client tonight to ensure things here will stay in order while I'm away."

I looked up at him in surprise, momentarily forgetting my discomfort. This wasn't what I was expecting. I fumbled for an answered as Stoic pulled out his bleeping phone to check it. "Umm, well okay then, I'll just be in my room. I guess I'll see you when you get back-"

"No, the dinner is going to be happening here. I need you to get out of the house for a few hours." He snapped his phone shut again and returned it to its place in his pocket, barely glancing at me and he walked to the table to pick up his iPad instead. I froze, taking a moment to comprehend the meaning of his words. It would mean that I'd have to stay out pretty late, not that it made much of a difference, I often worked the evening shifts meaning that I was home late most days anyway, not that he'd really noticed.

"O-okay, so where am I supposed to go then exactly?" I stuttered anxiously. He sighed, as though long-suffering as he flicked through his iPad, still not looking round.

"Honestly, Harriet you're almost a grown woman, you should be able to take care of yourself by now. Why don't you go stay with a friend?"

I winced and began to mutter awkwardly, rubbing the hair at the back of my head, a nervous tick that I'd long picked up at some point that I don't remember.

"Umm, Dad, I don't have actually have any friends so I'm not sure how-"

"I don't care, just be gone within an hour and don't come back for at least four" And don't even think about going to that awful job of yours!" He cut me off before I could finish hold a finger up in front of him to make his point, his eyes narrowing dangerously on the last part. I cringed at the mention of my job, working part time at Gobber, a family friend's bar. It was a sore spot, well, another sore spot, between the two of us. Stoic strongly disapproved of his daughter working in a bar, even a friends. Well, disapproved might be putting it a bit mildly actually. Hated is probably a better choice of word. If was only thanks to Gobber's uncannily ability to talk sense into his friend that I was allowed to continue with my job. Shame he wasn't around to help me now.

With a defeated sigh, I held up my hands in a surrender. Stoic nodded briskly and turned back around, still typing away on his device wordlessly. I shrugged my slipping rucksack back onto my shoulder and quickly scurried out of the room and up the stairs to my room to change and grab some things. Pulling on my hoody and stuffing the rest of my stuff into my bag, I reached out to grab my iPod from its charging station before trudging towards the door, pausing when I caught sight of a large black box sticking out from under my bed innocently. I suddenly remembered my previous engagement later and realised I would need to grab my gear out of it anyway, something I wouldn't be able to come back and do later if Stoic wanted me out of the house. I took a couple of steps towards it and pulled it the rest of the way out from under my bed and crammed it into my bag on top of my other stuff before retreating back down stairs again, passing Stoic in the main room and walking straight out to the kitchen and exited though the door without a backward glance.

I kept walking, pulling on my headphones as I went, scrolling through my extensive music list absentmindedly while I let my thoughts and emotions run wild inside my head. I knew me and Stoic didn't have the best father-daughter relationship, heck we barely had one at all to be honest. Gobber had been more of a father figure to me since everything fell apart all those years ago. Since Mom died.

I paused suddenly as an over-powering wave a grief hit me, making me literally sway on my still feet slightly. It was a painfully topic for everyone who knew her. My Mom was a very well-liked person. Especially my Stoic and me. He took it harder than everyone when we lost her, made worse by the fact that nobody even knows what happened to her. She was a biologist, a good one too, but she loved music as much as I do, something we had strongly in common. I don't have a lot of memories of her, I was very young when it happened, but some of my best is of the two of us dancing around the house, twirling and singing along together to the music that blared at full volume from the stereo, laughing and shrieking and she'd attempt to lift me up high above her high head during some points, only to tumble down to the floor into a tangled mess of arms and legs. It was probably the happiest part of my childhood. That changed when it happened. When she disappeared.

She'd had been doing research on the types of animals living in the forest, much to the disapproval of her husband and she had become certain that she'd found something incredible. She'd apparently discovered evidence of what she was certain was an unrecorded species, living somewhere deep within the mysterious wood of the town. We'd come home to find an excited note attached to the fridge door saying that she was onto something, had plans to do some further study and would be home late. That was the last we ever heard from her. She never returned that night, and soon search parties were sent out to look for her. The outer rims of the woods where she was supposed to be working with her team were explored with great difficulty as a number of miniature disasters that the forest was famous for occurred, preventing the expedition from going very far. Eventually, they found something. Her rucksack was found abandoned among the forest floor a little way outside of where she was supposed to be working. I was never allowed to see it, but there were apparently signs of a struggle with something. Stoic was heartbroken and the official search as called off, the worst assumed. Determined, Stoic tried to continue the search himself but it was impossible. The forest was considered impenetrable for a reason. Eventually, even he gave up and had to accept that his wife was gone. He was never the same after that. He became brisk, and cold, burying himself in working and doing everything possible to pretend that I didn't exist. Leaving seven year-old me to grieve alone, for the mother that was suddenly taken from me with no explanation. He would become aggressive when I tried to ask about her, and yell and shout, only to be stopped by Gobber. Eventually, I learned to stop asking, and simply adjusted to growing up alone.

I was snapped out of my painful reminiscing by the feeling of hot tears running down my cheek leaving wet tracks behind them. I shook my head to clear it of those painfully images and rubbed my eyes with my sleeve shamefully before glancing around, surprised to see where my feet had taken me. I was stood at the turning point of the dirt path running alongside the very woods that had taken my mother from me, the high stone wall that was built to keep people out towering over me and casting a low shadow on my small form. I pulled my headphones down to hang around my neck, stuffed my iPod into my pocket and stared at the grey structure blankly for a moment before a sudden, insane resolve possessed me and I found myself sliding my rucksack off of my back and aiming to toss it up onto the wall in one swift throw. It landed perfectly and I was soon bracing myself against its stone structure, preparing to climb up after it before I was even aware of what I was doing. I tensed and jumped, almost making it, missing the top by about a foot. I stumbled for a second, regaining my footing pretty quickly and braced to try again. It took a few tries but I eventually managed to get a grip on the sharp edge of the walls top, and carefully pulled myself up with trembling arms until I was balanced precariously on its narrow surface. Carefully, I rotated around till I was facing my bag and scooped it up onto my shoulder awkwardly before jumping gently down onto the other side, into the woods. I braced for impact but still landed awkwardly and immediately found myself tumbling helplessly forward down a sharp hill, bouncing from point to point until I finally came to a halt, landing sprawled out in the dirt, the world still spinning around me, my body aching with the feeling of bruises forming underneath my skin.

I lay there for a moment, stunned before climbing painfully to my feet and stood up unsteadily to look around. Tall trees loomed up all around me, almost blocking out the sun above me. Turning around to look behind me, I could see the track of broken vegetation and disturbed dirt of the steep hill where I had fallen and made sure to memories the location so I knew how to find my way back out later. I scoped up my headphones and iPod from where they had fallen off me, caught in a bush near the bottom of the hill that I'd fallen through, mildly surprised that both were undamaged and still connected, and slipped them back on, turning around to stroll carefully through the tall trees trunks and thick undergrowth of the woods.

I switched my iPod back on, pausing when I saw the page that it must had landed on before my brief climbing experience. Of all the music we used to listen to, Mom loved Broadway soundtracks the best. A particular favourite of hers had been James and the Giant Peach. I vaguely remember that we'd gone to see the panto of it when I was very small. Amy thumb moved almost of its own accord to tap the name of the album on the list and pressed play on the first song that came up listed. I slipped the device back into my pocket and continued with my walk, humming along as the song began to play, singing quietly to myself when the music turned to words.

" _If this is what my family has to be, then I don't need one watching over me. A family doesn't make you sleep outside. A family doesn't laugh and say you lied. Remember what, a home is. Think of how, your life should be."_

Something about the lyrics struck a chord within me and for an odd second, I found myself pondering the words eerie likeness to the current state of my own life. Without realising it I began to raise my voice even louder, slowly losing myself in the rhythm and rhyme of the song.

" _When you're stuck, in the middle of a moment. Can't crawl out of where you are. Only steps away, the worlds okay. But you can't see that far. Stuck in the middle of a moment, that's half way to somewhere new. Can't go back, you're moving through."_

A strange, almost pleasant, light feeling came over me, and I could feel my body relax, my worries washing away like rain down a storm drain as the music play, as was the usual effect it had on me. I could myself lift up both in spirt and in body as I raised myself up on my toes and suddenly spring forward to leap gracefully over a high tree gaining speed to stand in the center of a clearing just a short way ahead of me, where I skidded to stop, spraying dirt and sand in front of me, heart still pounding warmly.

" _You'll have to think in ways you never thought. You'll have to make the best of what you've got. Find the answers hiding in-between. See a door that no one's ever seen. Somethings there, you feel it. Stop to look, it's all around."_

I leapt up high and spun, kicking up dust with my feet like a little kid playing in water, a grin creeping up onto my face, becoming blissfully happy and light-hearted in a way that only the magic of song and dance could bring out in me.

" _So you're stuck in the middle of a moment. No clear path, no shining star. Just a step away, the world's okay, so try to see that far. And there in the middle of a moment. You're half-way to somewhere new. Can't go back, keep moving through."_

I slowed, dropping into a low crouch, falling forward until my knees hit the dirt, hands falling loosely in front of me. In one swift movement, I tucked into a roll and sprang back up again, hold my arms high above my head, raising my voice loud again.

" _Cus there is magic, now you know. You made magic, made is grow. And marvellous, wonderful things, can come true. In the middle of a moment. In the middle of a moment. In the middle of a moment."_

I fast walked in several loops, spinning on the spot as I went, before halting in the center of the clearing and raised my arms back up again and finished at the top of my lungs.

" _You're on your way!"_

I stayed there for a moment, arms up high and beginning to ache form being held there so long, panting heavily, feeling the warmth of the sun leaking in through the gap in between the trees on my face, eyes semi closed against it.

It was in this position that I noticed the glinting reflection of my watch, causing me to pull my arms down away from the light, much to my body's relief and look at it properly. What I read on it made me swear viciously with words that I'd picked from too much time spent around a not-entirely-sober Gobber and rush to retrieve my bag from where I'd dropped it in the dirt at the edge of the clearing while I'd been busy dancing. I was going to be late for my shift!

I pulled off my head phones and hurried to stuff them into my bag clumsily and it was thanks to this that I heard the sound of twigs breaking somewhere behind me that I normally wouldn't have noticed with my ever-present headphones on. I froze, listening as the noise sounded again, slightly closer. A trickle of fear went through me as I thought of my late-mothers last trip into these woods and, ever so slowly turned around, hopefully desperately to find the same empty clearing that I'd been standing in mere seconds ago. What I saw instead made my heart fall out of my mouth and onto the ground beneath me and my bag slip out of my bag to fall beside it…..

 **The main song this time is "Middle of a Moment" From James and the Giant Peach (Skylar Astin version). Bonus points for anyone who recognises Hiccup's alarm song! (Hint: It's one of the lesser known songs from the latest solo album of my all-time favourite singer). I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter, and that I unfortunately can't say when the next one will be as I've been very busy recently and am about to become so again. I do have a Poll up listing all of my current stories so if you want another chapter for this one next, be sure to vote for it. Until next time. SS**


	3. Chapter 3

Notice to All –

I'M NOT DEAD! Just thought I'd start with that! I should probably also say how sorry I am as well for not updating in SO long.

I know I'm owing several promised chapters to multiple stories that are LONG over-due, almost by two years in some cases, and for that I apologise. My life's been kinda derailed over the last year or so and reality got in the way.

I know it's not an excuse, and I promise that NONE of my current stories have, nor will ever be abandoned! I've decided, looking back that I'm not really happy with how most of my stories are so far so I'm taking the time off from them (not including my drabbles series and One-shots) to re-write them all before I start posting fresh chapters again, and hopefully several new projects that I'm working on and planning on having finished and pre-written BEFORE I start posting in order to avoid this sort of problem again.

I can't grantee when I'll get around to posting again, probably not till after New Year, but I can promise that they ARE coming.

Many thanks for the support, patience and encouragement that you've all shown so far. I'll look forward to hearing from you all again when posting in the future.

Sincerely,

SS


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